Lock Preventative Maintenance

Although it is still summer time here in Portland, before you know it, the winter will be here as well. Many people don't realize, but cold weather during winter time can cause issues with the doors and locks that protect your home. The type of issues cold weather will cause to your locks can be fixed. However, they can be prevented as well, so you won't have to call a professional locksmith and spend the extra money on an issue that could have been prevented.

Lubricating the locks and hinges is important regardless of the weather. However, in cold weather, all the metal and steel components inside a lock can start sticking which may cause the lock mechanism to malfunction. When a lock starts to malfunction due to binding parts, it will show signs of resistance when operating it. Although forcing the lock to open may help, you will take a risk by damaging the lock even more or even breaking the key inside the cylinder.

Normally, using WD-40 to lubricate the internals of the locks including the door hinges will help prevent the lock from malfunctioning as a result of the cold weather. After all, WD initials stands for Water Displacement which means that using WD-40 lubricant will help prevent moisture buildup from freezing inside the lock or other moving parts of the door. It is important to understand however that lubricating the locks and other door hardware will unlikely to solve an issues that occur due to the cold weather, but will prevent the issues from happening if used before as a preventative maintenance.

For more information about preventative maintenance for locks, contact NorthWest Locksmith Portland.